Article carrier



June 19, 1956 ARNESON ARTICLE CARRIER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 4, 1951 W W ll/ 11! m Iva/l ZMT Iii j/ M Mw I lbw i: lair.

I ll llllllllll INVENTOR. [dz/a7, Z 5/72650/2 inmmuw 3 7 June 19, 1956 L. ARNESON ARTICLE CARRIER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 4 1951 INVENTOR. Ida/Hz Z. $726502; BY Maw/V WW nited ARTICLE CARRIER Edwin L. Arneson, Morris, 11]., assignor to Morris Paper Mills, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois The present invention relates to an improved flexible paperboard carrier for bottles and like articles of uniform size and shape, and, more particularly, to a cellular carrier of this type which affords full depth protection for bottles disposed in rows of three each on opposite sides of a central divider or partition panel.

It is an object of the invention to provide a flexible paperboard bottle carrier of the above description, characterized by a central, longitudinally extending, multiply partition and suspending panel disposed medially between and paralleling a pair of side walls, and a cross partition structure extending between the partition and side walls to define a plurality of bottle receiving cells or compartments on opposite sides of the partition, which cross partition structure is produced in a novel and improved manner from the portion of a paperboard blank from which the longitudinal partition is also derived.

Another object is to provide a blank for a full depth cell type of bottle carrier constructed from a flexible paperboard sheet of minimum size, which blank is cut and creased to define side and end wall panels, a longitudinal partition panel integrally hinged thereto, and a cross-partition unit involving a series of hingedly articulated panel elements, which series is integrally hinged in an improved manner to the upper margin of the longitudinal partition panel and has one of the elements thereof adhesively secured to a side wall panel in a hinged relation thereto.

A still further object is to provide a flexible paperboard blank for an article carrier which has the structural features described in the preceding paragraph.

The foregoing statements are indicative in a general way of the nature of the invention. Other and more specific objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon a full understanding of the construction and operation of the device.

A single embodiment of the invention is presented herein for purpose of illustration, but it will be appreciated that the invention is susceptible of incorporation in other modified forms coming equally within the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a paperboard blank from which the improved carrier is constructed, showing the manner in which the blank is cut, creased and preliminarily glued;

Fig. 1A is a fragmentary view illustrating the blank of Fig. 1 following an initial folding of its longitudinal partition portion, also showing by stippling a further application of adhesive;

Fig. 2 is a plan view illustrating the blank following the next folding operation, being stippled to show an application of adhesive preceding a further fold;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the carrier after the last named fold, showing another coating of adhesive in certain stippled areas;

Fig. 4 illustrates the carrier in completed, knockeddown condition.

tates atent 2,75Lil0 Fig. 5 is a view of the erected carrier in side elevation, partially broken away to illustrate the relationship of components of the longitudinal and cross partition structure;

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the erected carrier; and

Fig. 7 is a view in transverse vertical section along a line corresponding to line 77 of Fig. 5.

Referring now to Fig. l of the drawings, the improved carrier is fabricated from a flexible paperboard blank 10 which, save for a generally rectangular bottom forming section 11, is symmetrical with relation to a longitudinally extending medial line 12 that is defined by certain creases, slits and other cuts hereinafter described in detail. Accordingly, like parts on opposite sides of the medial line 12 are designated by like reference numerals, and only one set thereof will be described in the interest of simplicity, on the understanding that corresponding parts and relationships exist on each side of line 12.

Blank 10 is provided with a pair of spaced parallel creases 13, 14 which define a rectangular side wall panel 15. Crease 13 hingedly connects panel 15 with an end wall forming panel 16, and a longitudinal partition flap 17 is hinged to panel 16 by a further crease 18 paralleling the first named creases. The flaps 17 on opposite sides of the medial line 12 are hingedly joined to one another by the short crease 19 which constitutes a portion of that line.

The opposite end of side wall panel 15 has a further end wall panel 20 hingedly connected thereto by the crease 14, and a longitudinally extending crease 21 coinciding with a side margin of the main portion of the blank serves to hinge the bottom forming section 11 to one of the side wall panels 15. Bottom section 11 is subdivided into two similar portions 22, 23 by longitudinally extending medial crease 24, and a glue lap 25 is hinged by crease 26 to the outer portion 23 of the bottom section.

A crease 27 paralleling crease 14 defines an end margin of the end wall panel 20, an inner extension 27 of this crease serving to hinge a suspending or grip panel, generally designated 28, to the remainder of the blank. The last named panel has hand holes of a conventional type formed therein and is separated by an inclined slit 29 from end Wall panel 20. Grip panel 28 is subdivided by a transverse crease 30 into a main body portion 31 and a reinforcing flap 32, which portions are cut away in part from the side wall panel 15 by shaped apertures 33. Short leg extensions 34 of body portion 31 are left weakly connected to the side wall 15 by nicks 35. Hence the panel 28 is held in connected relation to the remainder of the blank as the latter passes through a folding and gluing machine on which the carrier is fabricated. However, the nicks 35 are readily ruptured when the carrier is completed and erected, thus separating the grip constituted by part 28 from the side wall panels 15.

The respective portions 31, 32 of longitudinal partition and suspending panel 28 which lie on opposite sides of the medial line 11 are integrally hinged to one another by the aligned creases 36, 37 coinciding with that line, and an elongated slot 38 is provided at the right hand end of crease 36 to accommodate material disposed between the panels 28 when the latter are finally folded, this slot extending to the marginal handle crease 27'.

A longitudinal and cross partition-defining structure. generally designated 39, is integrally hinged to the end wall panel 20 and the longitudinal partition and extending panel 28 by means of the crease 27, 27. This structure comprises a series of hingedly articulated cross partition panels, including a first, generally rectangular panel 40 which has an integral L-shaped inner extension 41, a second, cross partition panel 42 hinged to panel 40 by a crease 43, and a third, side wall engaging panel 44 of greater length hinged to panel 42 by a crease 45.

The partition structure 39 is completed by a generally rectangular longitudinal partition forming panel 50 hinged by short, longitudinally extending creases 51, 52 adjacent the ends thereof to the panels 49 and 46, respectively. Panel St) is otherwise freed from the extension 41 of panel 40 by means of the elongated vertically extending, shaped slit 53 which defines an edge of the extension 41, and from the successively hinged panels 441, 42, 44 by means of a generally horizontal zig-zag shaped slit 54. Transverscly extending creases 55, 55' subdivide panel 59 into a main, longitudinal partition portion 56,, a cross partition forming portion or panel 57 as an extension thereof, and a side wall engaging terminal portion 57'.

The respective panels 59 on opposite sides of the medial line 12 are separated from one another by a longitudinally extending slit 58 which extends from the shaped transverse slit 53 to the extreme right hand end of the blank, the slit coinciding with the medial line 12. Panel extensions 41 are hinged together by a crease 59 aligned with slit 58.

in completing the carrier from the blank illustrated in Fig. 1, the reinforcing flap 32 on the handle grip panel 28 is first provided with coating of adhesive, indicated by stippling in Fig. 1, and is then folded upwardly, inwardly and downwardly about the crease 3t) and adhered to the main body portion 31 of that panel, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. l. Contemporaneously with this operation, the two longitudinal partition panels 50 are folded in the opposite direction, i. e. downwardly about their end creases 51, 52. and brought into side by side subjacent relation to panels 40, 42 and 44, leaving the blank in the condition shown in Fig. 1A of the drawings.

Adhesive is next applied to the exposed top surface of panel 44, to the inner portion of extension 41 of panel 4%, and to an inner portion of the area of the end wall flap 17, as also indicated by stippling in Figs. 1A and 2, after which the partition structure 39 is folded as a unit about the crease lines 27, 27' into face-to-face relation to the respective side wall panel 15, causing the glued cross partition panel 44 to adhere to the side wall panel 12 and leaving the blank in the condition illustrated in Fig. 2. The end wall panel 16 and its flap 17 are next folded inwardly and downwardly about the crease l3 and the glued portion of the fiap 17 is thus adhered to the previously inturned reinforcing flap 32 of the grip panel 28. The blank is in the condition illustrated in Fig. 3 following this operation. In order to complete the carrier, ad-

hesive is applied to one of the grip panels 28, to the exposed surface of portion 56 of panel 50 and to bottom section glue lap 25. The two like sections of the carrier on opposite sides .of medial line .12 are next folded onto one another about that line and adhesively secured to one another, following which the bottom section 11 is folded upon its medial crease 24 and glue lap 25 is secured to the adjacent side wall panel 15. This completes the blank, leaving the same in the flat, knock-down condition illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawings.

When the carrier is erected to the operative position illustrated in Figs. 5, 6 and 7 of the drawings, by applying compressive force to the opposite ends of the knockdown article, represented by the creases 13, 27, it presents full depth protection for bottles. Panels 50, which are hingedly related at their upper edges to the respective sets of panels 49, 46, provide full depth cross partition elements 57 on opposite sides of a multi-ply grip and longitudinal partition unit which is constituted by the reinforced grip panels 28, the panels 40 and their upper extensions 41, the panels 56 and the flaps 17. Another cross partition element 42 on each side of the longitudinail unit coacts with the panel elements 57 in subdividing the interior of the carrier into six bottle receiving cells.

As illustrated in Figs. 5, 6 and 7 the cross partition elements 42, 47 are Well integrated into the side wall and longitudinal partition by reason of integral horizontal hinges 51, 52 to the side wall engaging panel 44 and the longitudinal partition forming panel 40 and set of integral vertical hinges 43, 45 and 55, 55 to adjoining panel elements. Referring particularly to Fig. 5, it is seen that the leg extensions 34 reach downwardly past and straddle the upper termini of hinge creases 18, 43, and 55 in the longitudinal partition, thus serving as abutments to brace end wall panels 16 and cross partition panel elements 42, 57 in this zone.

The carrier is of very sturdy construction, well adapted for loading by automatic machinery, and is very inexpensively produced, and can be constructed on existing types of folding and gluing machinery.

I claim:

1. A flexible paperboard blank for an article carrier comprising opposed pairs of hingedly connected side and end Wall panels, a bottom panel hinged to one of said side Wall panels, and a partition structure integrally hinged by a transverse crease to each of said end wall panels, each partition structure comprising a first series of partition panels integrally and hingedly connected to one another by transverse creases in end-to-end order, and a further series of partition panels integrally hinged to one another by transverse creases in end-to-end order, said further series being hingedly connected by longitudinal creases to non-successive panels of said first series and being otherwise separated therefrom by a longitudinal cut disposed between and joining at its ends said longitudinal creases, one of the panels of said further series being adapted to be folded into substantially face-to-face relation to a panel of said first series and another panel of said further series being adapted to be disposed in substantially face-to-face relation to a side wall panel of one of said pairs, a second panel of said first series also being adapted to be disposed in substantially face-to-iace relation to said last named side Wall panel.

2. A blank in accordance with claim 1 in which a first panel of said further series is hinged to a first panel of said first series by a longitudinal crease in outwardly spaced relation to the first named transverse crease hinging said partition structure to an end Wall panel, said respective first panels being separated from one another by a transverse cut intersecting said last named longitudinal crease.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,157,712 Miller Oct. 26, 1915 2,154,085 Bergstein Apr. 11, 1939 2,381,543 Inman Aug. 7, 1945 2,395,711 Arnold Feb. 26, 1946 2,476,181 Crane July 12, 1949 2,532,446 Hall Dec. 5, 1950 2,537,614 Arneson Ian. 9, 1951 2,537,615 Arneson Jan. 9, 1951 2,584,658 Arneson Feb. 5, 1952 2,593,135 Gilbert Apr. 15. 1952 2,630,264 Holy Mar. 3, 1953 

